Superglue on string intersections

[thedailyj]

The weather around here has not been great so I have not had a chance to test out a new idea of mine. I basically put a dab of super glue at each individual section that the strings of my racket cross. I am wondering if any one has tried this or has any ideas on this. I am not sure if this will affect playability but I am greatly curious to see if it will hold my strings in place so I can have improved durability. I also wonder if the chemicals in super glue would damage the strings at all, it gave off a toxic smell as I was applying it.

I really hope this works because super glue would be much cheaper than having to restring a racket so soon.

[Jens]

Well, let us know how it played.
I would expect this to play really awful, with no feel.

[bigmatt]

This has been tried for decades, and I've never heard of anyone saying it worked very well. The glue will stay adhered to one of the strings, but it will break loose from the intersection, probably sooner than you think. In response to what Jens said, it should affect feel, since there is something else between the strings at ball contact. I can't imagine it would be a positive for feel.

[Tim Strawn]

It sounds as though the problem you're really referring to is premature string breakage due to excessive string movement. One thing you might consider is stringing the cross strings tighter than the main strings to reduce string movement. I've found that you can increase cross string tension by as much as 4 kg in some racquets without having an adverse affect on the overall SBS. Do you have a device to measure SBS with once the string job is first completed? This would be helpful so you could track tension loss and make comparisons for the various things you implement to reduce string movement.

By the way--I agree with Matt on the super glue thing--not a good idea IMHO.

Tim